Seven the Hard Way
by o Mischief Managed
Summary: OneShot. "It's said that a fire glows brightest right before it's snuffed out. I was always told my life would burn short and bright, but no one ever warned me of the six who would blaze shorter and brighter."


Hi there! This has been running around all willy-nilly in my head for the past few days, and I was finally able to gather all my thoughts into something of a formation rigid enough to get a concrete story out of it. And here we are!

I'll warn you now, this is NOT a happy story. It takes place at the end of HoO, in what is a possible (not _probable_, but possible) end to the series. There's character death, obviously, but hey – a little death never hurt anybody, right? Well… Maybe just the people that die… Moving on!

This is a songfic to the song _"Surface of the Sun"_ by Yellowcard. It's pretty obvious, but the song lyrics are gonna be in _**bold italics**_, like so.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but my own imagination! …And loosely, at that.

* * *

_**This is a story full of restless nights  
**__**Of 'do or do not' 'cause there is no 'try'**_

We never wanted to be heroes. Ask any of us – we'd be the first to tell you. We don't get peace, we don't get quiet. We may get a few laughs and smiles, but underneath there's always pain and heartache. And we certainly don't get happiness. 'Demigod' and 'tragedy' are all but synonymous to anyone who knows the truth about the world. Sure, there's honor and glory and gripping stories of brave men and women of all ages who lived and who fought and who suffered and who saved and who _died_ just like all the rest. But is it worth it? Is it worth giving up all semblance of normalcy and tranquility, of friends and of family and of love and happy endings?

Honestly? I don't know. After all, what do I compare it to, when this life is all I've come to know?

_**Across a decade we flew high and we fell low  
**__**And getting up when we're dragged down is all we've known**_

Even among demigods, the seven of us were special – which was just another way of saying our lives would be all the more tragic. And here at the end, I see now what exactly that means. We had a destiny – a beautiful and terrible path foretold by an age-old prophecy. We were just kids, gathered together and forced on a quest to battle an army and save the world from the torrential threat of a historic danger that none of us had been the least bit prepared for. But the thing is, the real curse of heroes like us isn't the fact that we were made to fight this war.

It's the fact that we wanted to.

_**We were born to be the ones  
**__**To show the faithless what we've done  
**__**And there's a fire inside**_

We knew it was crazy. We knew it was impossible. We knew it was more than likely that none of us would make it out alive. But that didn't stop us. Sometimes I wonder why, but I know I don't have an answer. All I know is that no matter how scared I was or how much I wanted to run away and never look back, I stayed. And I fought. I fought alongside the others, the best friends I had ever known, and together, against all the odds of the universe that told us we should lose, we won. I can't tell you why or how, but for whatever reason we found the strength we needed to do what needed to be done. It was like the fates knew what would happen to us, and had found it within them to give us the power to protect the world right at the end. It's said that a fire glows brightest right before it's snuffed out, and now I finally understand what that means.

I was always told my life would burn short and bright, but no one ever warned me of the six who would blaze shorter and brighter.

_**We were born to be the ones  
**__**To show the faithless what we've done  
**__**And there's a fire inside  
**__**It burns like the surface of the sun**_

Piper was the first. I'd always admired how fearless and passionate she was. I guess that came with being a daughter of Venus (Or—Aphrodite. Right.). If it wasn't for her, Jason would have died much sooner, and would never have accomplished all that he did. She'd launched herself at the trio of Cyclopes just as they were about to overtake him, kicking and slashing and screaming in fury. I don't know how it happened, but she destroyed them all, dropping to the ground in a mound of glittering, golden dust.

It was only then that we saw the blood.

It just wasn't right. Beauty like hers shouldn't be marred – sliced so savagely and painted with the harsh, glaring red of the dying sun. It was like a work of art gone horribly wrong, a once-magnificent tapestry torn and dyed in the wanton destruction of a war that just couldn't be contained. And it wasn't fair. She had given her life as a sacrifice to the one she loved. I don't know if it's what she wanted, but I think her mother would have been proud.

That was when Jason first started to lose it. He threw himself into the army of monsters, using the winds around him to move at speeds that alarmed everyone and everything in his path, his voice a howl of thunder in the sky. Annabeth had realized earlier that the second line of the Prophecy of Seven – _To storm or fire the world must fall _– was in fact referring to Gaea—the Earth Mother herself. Because of this, Jason and Percy had been working together as best they could to produce a storm with the power to wipe Gaea's army from existence. But when the son of the Sky God surged into the fray, his Greek cousin had a difficult time keeping up, and their efforts suffered.

_**Here in this angel city, lights will shine  
**__**And for a while we let ourselves go blind**_

And things only got worse when Annabeth's scream broke through the din. I don't know how Percy was at her side so fast, forcing back the advancing monsters with what little dwindling strength he had left. Even from where I was, yards away and distracted by my own battle, I could tell she didn't look good. I wanted to help – to do something, _anything_. They were both still so weak and drained from their journey through Tartarus that there was no way either of them would last long. And from the look of things, Annabeth knew it too. When Percy collapsed beside her, she told him to go, to leave her and to rejoin the rest of us. But he wouldn't. I knew he wouldn't. And I think she did, too.

Instead, he did something I've never seen him do before. He shut his eyes and let out a scream so loud the ground seemed to shake beneath us. And when he slammed his fists against the earth, I realized that the ground really _was_ shaking, and it hit me too late what he was trying to do.

Percy was the son of the god of earthquakes, but this was a power I didn't know he had. I turned and shouted at Hazel, who was closest to me, to get out of the way, before turning myself into an eagle and gliding into the sky just as the ground under my feet was torn in two. The battlefield turned to chaos in that single instant, with monsters running this way and that in a mad, scrambling attempt to escape the imminent destruction. I couldn't see Jason anymore, but everyone else appeared to be safely out of harm's way.

Everyone, that is, except for Percy and Annabeth. He'd promised never to let her go, never again. _An oath to keep with a final breath_ – a breath that rent the earth asunder and carried him, her, and everything around them to oblivion. I wanted to scream, to cry, to glide down and grab them, to do _something_ to stop the disaster. But the deed was done, and they were gone, leaving behind only the faint shine of millions of golden dust particles rising slowly into the air.

_**But now we know who loves and loves us not  
**__**And they're worth every good thing we have lost**_

When Jason realized what had happened, he went crazy. We all were shocked, but for him, something just seemed to snap. He turned toward the remaining giants and charged forward with a deafening shout of "FATHER!" And somewhere above, Jupiter must have heard the broken anguish in his son's voice and decided that just for once, a demigod deserved help. The sky rumbled and Jason raised his hands, calling forth a wind so strong it knocked me out of the sky and sent Leo, Hazel, and Nico flying backward.

What happened next was something so terrifying I don't think I can really, fully describe it. But it was also beautiful. The powers of both god and hero colliding and growing into a storm of clouds so dark and thunder so deep and lightning so hot it felt as though the sky itself was alive and out for blood. And maybe, I think, it was. With the Lord of the Sky and his demigod son fighting together, no giant stood a chance.

It was all over before we knew it, and the giants were dead. _Every single one._ I couldn't believe it, and judging from the looks on my friends' faces, neither could they. The world was silent for an instant that seemed to last an eternity, until Jason's sword dropped to the ground and he collapsed to his knees, coughing violently. The giant Porphyrion had turned the very air around him into an invisible poison, and though it was gone now, its deadly work was already done.

_**We were born to be the ones  
**__**To show the faithless what we've done  
**__**And there's a fire inside**_

I remember it too clearly – it hurt so badly to watch him cough and twitch and struggle for breath. Hazel was crying and Nico wouldn't look and Leo kept yelling that we had to do something, but then Jason told us what we all knew was true: Gaea was waking up. To storm or fire the world—the _earth_—must fall. Even now, she had to be stopped.

The dwindling remains of Gaea's army that had once assembled proud and vast outside the House of Hades fell easily without the giants to lead them, and in no time we'd found ourselves plunging into the stronghold and gathering in the wide, stone-walled room in which Gaea's body slept, waiting to rise from its slumber.

_**We were born to be the ones  
**__**To show the faithless what we've done  
**__**And there's a fire inside  
**__**It burns like the surface of the sun**_

She was ready for us. She knew we were coming, and she knew that her army had failed. But it wasn't enough – not yet. Three of the Seven still remained, along with Nico di Angelo. I didn't know what we were going to do, but we had to stop her. As she shifted slowly atop the altar on which she lay, eyes still closed and a cold, dreamy smile on her face, I remember wracking my brain for any idea of a way to fight the Earth Mother, but in all my fear and despair, none came.

As it turned out, I didn't need to come up with a plan, because someone already had one.

I couldn't even speak as Hazel tried to stop him, but Leo had made up his mind. I remember him telling us once how Gaea had been interfering in his life since he was little, had murdered his mother in an attempt to dissuade him from acting out against her in the future. I can't help but think that maybe if she had left him alone, he wouldn't have ever had a reason to hate her as much as he did, and maybe she could have won after all. But in trying to scare him away, all Gaea did was fuel Leo's anger and spark within him the strength and power he needed to stop her, once and for all. As I stood beside him in that dark, stone room, I could tell from the smoldering look on his face and the heat already radiating from his body that he was ready for this, and that he knew what had to be done.

_**We were born to be the ones  
**__**And burn like the surface of the sun**_

I still can't forget his eyes – terrifying tongues of brilliant, living flame as he ran at her. And I can still hear her scream as earth and fire turned to lava and ashes, solidifying before our eyes into a deadly spire of glowing, molten rock. I had to shield my face from the explosion of heat and shower of embers that rained down on us, singeing age-old stone like paper held above a flame. And then just as quickly, the strange, earthy formation of lava and bedrock cooled and stilled, forming a blackened pillar of earth that spanned the width of the chamber and rose high above our heads.

According to Nico, no life remained inside the structure. Leo had become living fire itself and fused himself with Gaea, creating a hardened, volcanic monument that would entomb her remains for all eternity. She would never rise again.

_**To show the faithless what we've done  
**__**And burn like the surface of the sun**_

I could hardly breathe as I thought about what had just happened. I'd been so worried and afraid that the entire battle would have been for nothing if we didn't find a way to defeat Gaea before she woke, but thanks to Leo, she was gone for good. He'd been the brightest of us all along, and it was no different in the end.

All that was left was to close the Doors of Death, to make sure the dead stayed dead.

_**Another million miles to go  
**__**Not over yet, not even close**_

We found them easily enough – in the lowest basement level of the fortress known as the House of Hades, in a room even larger, darker, and colder than Gaea's resting chamber. A cold draft was blowing from the opening between the two giant, black slabs of stained, obsidian iron, filling the wide room with the stench of stale breath. Ancient Greek writing adorned the curved frame around the Doors, and though I couldn't read it I was sure it was a warning. Never before in my life had I been in a place that gave me such a strong sense of fear and foreboding, and it was incredibly unnerving.

Nico had told us ages ago that the Doors would have to be closed from _both sides_, with someone on earth and someone in the Underworld. But even so, it still came as a strange surprise to me when he stalked purposefully toward the iron structure, informing Hazel and me that once the doors were closed, we would have to make sure someone new was appointed as guard on our side. Hazel was just as shocked as I was, though not quite as speechless. She told her brother he didn't have to do it, but had no answer when he challenged her for an alternative. I remember feeling sick as Nico argued that he had always known he would be the one to close the doors from inside, that he belonged in the Underworld and that it would be his final duty to seal it and to die there.

And then my heart sank when Hazel told him he couldn't go alone.

_**We were born to be the ones  
**__**To show the faithless what we've done  
**__**And there's a fire inside**_

Nico tried to refuse – any older brother would – but he knew as well as I did that once Hazel had made up her mind, no one could change it. And even then, I think a small part of him must have been relieved that he wouldn't have to face Tartarus again by himself. And how could anyone fault him for that?

When she looked at me, her eyes were pleading, but not for permission or even for my blessing. I think all she wanted was some kind of warmth, some final bit of friendship or emotion before she would be separated from the world forever. I wrapped her in my shaking, tired arms – it was all I could do. I couldn't even speak, my body was so numb.

She told me she loved me, and stupid me was still in too much shock to say it back.

The next thing I knew, Nico and Hazel had stepped over the ebony threshold and into the cold darkness beyond. The Doors seemed to welcome them – two children of Death, displaced from time to a world in which they didn't belong, returning to the Underworld's cold embrace.

The last things I saw of Hazel as we forced the Doors together were the tears in her eyes and the smile on her lips.

_**We were born to be the ones  
**__**To show the faithless what we've done  
**__**And there's a fire inside  
**__**It burns like the surface of the sun**_

No sooner had the doors closed tightly than a massive tremor had wracked the fortress, throwing me clear across the room and slamming me against the back wall. I think I must have blacked out, because when I came to part of the ceiling had already collapsed, blocking the only stairwell in a heaping mound of seven stories of black, stony rubble. I couldn't feel the lower half of my body, and it took me a strangely long time to realize I was buried from the waist down in broken rock.

The walls around me are still rumbling dangerously, dropping streams of dust and tiny rock shards from above, and I know it's only a matter of time until the whole stronghold collapses. But maybe, I can't help but think, that isn't such a bad thing. When the House of Hades caves in on itself, the Doors of Death will be buried beneath tons and tons of weathered, black stone. What could be a better guard than an immovable mound of sturdy rock? I feel a small smile tug at my lips as I realize that after everything we did, we _actually won_. The prophecy came true, Gaea and her army were defeated, and the world was saved once again.

_**We were born to be the ones  
**__**And burn like the surface of the sun**_

I hope wherever the others are, they see it, too. I can still hear their voices, the last words each of them would ever speak echoing in my head in a morbid, endless repeat.

"_Everything feels so light. Jason… Are we flying?"_

"_I told you, didn't I? We're staying together. You're never getting away from me again."_

"_Whatever you're gonna do, you'd better do it, Seaweed Brain. …They're coming."_

"'_To storm or fire', remember? The storm's calmed – there's only fire. …It has to be you."_

"_Make sure those Doors get shut tight, Zhang. Wouldn't want a draft blowing out this smokin' hot fire, now, would we?"_

"_Even if it was only for a while, I… I'm glad I got a second chance. …Goodbye, Frank."_

_**To show the faithless what we've done**_

I don't regret what happened. I don't think any of us did. A demigod's life is cursed from the beginning – something we all knew to be true. The best any of us can ever hope for is to do some good in what time we have, to go out in a blaze of glory. To be remembered. To fuel the fire of both gods and men, and offer our lives – our _souls_ – as tinder for the world's flame, hoping it'll be enough to keep it alive.

_**And burn like the surface of the sun**_

And the seven of us – we _burned._

* * *

Believe it or not, the hardest part of this to write was those six short lines of dialogue. It's the only dialogue in this entire thing, but given the fact that it's everybody's last words (except Frank, anyway), it was really, really _hard._

Alright! So that was nice and depressing, right? Thanks bunches for reading! I'd love a review to let me know what you thought!

Later, taters!

-oMM


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